What Claude Cowork is · Claude Cowork 101: Setup, Connectors & Automation (Free)

Cowork does work, not just chat.
Think of it as an AI employee beside you.
It works with your files and apps.

Chat AI	Cowork
Answers questions	Completes tasks
No file access	Works with local files
Manual copy-paste	Connected apps

Do this in your own tools, step by step. Ticks are saved on this device.

Install Claude desktop.
Open Cowork.
List three tasks to hand over.

How is Cowork different?

It completes tasks, not just chats.

What can it access?

Your files and connected apps.

0:00 Well, if that's what you're looking for when it comes to AI, then you need to learn how to use Claude co-work. This is Claude co-work right here, and this isn't like your typical AI chatbot. Other chatbots like ChatGPT, the way most people use them is they chat with them about work. But at the end of the day, the user is the one who ends up having to actually do the work. But with Claude co-work, the AI is able to work alongside you on the same projects they are already working on.

0:40 And now, it can even do all of that work without you even needing to tell it to. Right now, the only place to access Claude co-work is through the Claude desktop app. But luckily, there is now a version for both Mac and Windows. To find this, just search on Google for Claude desktop app. It should be the top result, and you can come in here and download it. Once you have the app installed and you're logged in, this is what it's going to look like.

1:20 And the first thing I want to point out are these three tabs up here at the top: Chat, Co-work, and Code. You can kind of think of these as beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Chat is just like the regular chat that you can access on the web, so you can talk with the Claude model. Code, we are not going to be talking about today, but this allows you to use Claude inside of your terminal. It unlocks a lot of different capabilities, but it is much more advanced for a lot of users.

1:40 So today, we are sticking with Co-work. And immediately, when you switch to Co-work, one difference you're going to notice is this dropdown right here that says "work in a folder."